UC-NRLF 


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5861 

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JUL   10   19IJ 


THE    FUNCTION    OF    PUBLIC    EMPLOYMENT    OFFICES* 


Charles  B.  Barnes,  Director,  Bureau  of  Employment,  State  of 
New    York,   Albany 


The  subject  of  unemployment  has  been  much  under  discus- 
sion in  the  past  few  years,  and  the  conditions  in  the  large  cities, 
especially  during  the  winter  time,  have  been  serious.  This  coun- 
try has  now  reached  a  point  where  there  is  a  chronic  condi- 
tion of  unemployment,  brought  about  through  many  causes, 
which  we  do  not  have  time  in  this  paper  to  discuss.  During  the 
past  winter  unemployment  has  been  in  a  very  acute  stage,  due 
to  financial  depression,  the  European  war,^c. 

All  sorts  of  agencies,  such  as  mayor's  committees  and  other 
hastily  appointed  bodies,  have  attempted  to  solve,  or  etse  offer 
a  solution  for,  this  condition.  Naturally,  public  employment 
offices  suggest  themselves  as  a  remedy.  The  agitation  for  such 
otfices  at  the  present  time  has  its  good  and  its  bad  sides.  The 
subject  of  public  employment  offices  should  be  brought  to  the 
attention  of  the  public  but  too  many  people  who  are  urging 
their  establishment  regard  them  in  some  vague  way  as  a  remedy 
for  an  acute  trouble,  without  realizing  that  public  employment 
bureaus  are  not  temporary  expedients  for  an  acute  situation,  but 
a  permanent  institution  which,  in  time,  will  be  able  to  help 
relieve  the  chronic-  condition.  The  benefit  of  these  offices  will 
only  come  through  the  realization  by  employers  and  employes 
that  they  are  a  necessary  and  integral  part  of  our  industrial  life. 
It  would  seem  that  this  realization  has  to  be  a  matter  of  growth, 
:md  it  will  necessarily  be  slow. 

If  public  employment  offices  Imd  been  generally  established 
in  all  the  states,  or  had  been  established  as  a  federal  institu- 
tion, 25  years  ago,  and  had  been  carried  forw^ard  with  a  true 
understanding  of  their  work,  they  would  today  be  in  a  posi- 
tion to  point  out  some  remedies,  both  for  the  chronic  and  acute 
condition. 

A  few  of  the  states  have  had  public  employment  otTices  for 
several  years,  and  at  the  present  time  there  are  23  states  having 
public  employment  bureau  laws,  w^hile  in  seven  other  states 
there  are  cities  which  have  established  municipal  ofiices.  There 
has,  however,  been  no  cooperation  between  these  different 
bureaus.  In  some  of  the  staies  having  several  branches  there 
has  been  no  cooperation  between  the  difl'erent  offices  in  the 
state.     All  these  offices   have  been  handicapped  by  the  lack  of 


*No.  54,  Reprints  of  Reports  and  Addresses  of  the  National  Conference 
of  Charities  and  Correction,  1915  Meetiner  at  Baltimore.  Order  by  number. 
Write  for  descriptive  list  of  publications,  315  Plymoutt^  Court,  Chicago,  111. 

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appropriations,  lack  of  realization  of  the  true  function  of  a 
public  employment  office,  and  further,  because  they  have  to 
a  large  extent  been  regarded  as  a  political  asset.  In  only  four 
states  are  they  under  civil  service,  and  it  is  in  these  states  that 
the  best  work  is  being  done. 

The  public  generally  has  rather  a  low  regard  for  employ-| 
ment  offices  of  all  kinds,  and  too  often  public  employment  offices 
are  regarded  merely  as  places  for  handling  common  labor  or 
else  to  cater  to  the  unemployable  or  near-unemployable.  In 
consequence  of  this  wrong  impression  as  to  their  true  use  and 
value  appropriations  are  very  low.  The  same  attitude  toward 
them  has  led  to  the  belief  that  anybody,  regardless  of  character 
or  ability,  can  run  an  employment  office.  For  this  reason,  the 
superintendents,  who  secured  their  positions  in  payment  for 
political  services,  were  too  often  men  of  limited  capacity  and 
with  no  very  high  conception  of  the  work  to  which  they  were 
appointed.  All  this  has  caused  public  employment  offices,  which 
are  such  a  vital  and  necessary  part  of  our  industrial  system,  to 
languish  and  receive  little  or  no  attention. 

There  has  been  a  revival  of  interest  in  the  subject  now  that 
the  matter  is  being  considered  from  a  federal  standpoint.  Two 
bills  have  been  introduced  in  Congress  for  the  establishment  of 
a  federal  employment  bureau.  In  addition,  the  United  States 
Industrial  Relations  Commission  has  issued  a  tentative  plan  for 
a  federal  bureau,  and  in  connection  with  this  plan  a  study  was 
made  of  the  different  state  employment  offices  now  existing. 
This  has  led  the  Commission  in  their  first  report  to  emphasize 
the  need  of  a  national  bureau  of  employment  in  connection  with 
the  Labor  Department,  which  would  cooperate  with  state  and 
municipal  employment  offices,  which  would  regulate  private 
employment  agencies,  and  which  would  establish  clearing  houses 
for  industrial  information,  thus  uniting  all  public  employment 
offices  into  one  national  system. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  utilize  the  post  offices  through- 
out the  country  as  public  employment  offices.  Only  those  who 
know  the  highly  technical  character  of  the  work  carried  on  in 
an  employment  office  will  understand  how  little  can  be  accom- 
plished  through  the  post   office   as   an   employment  agency. 

Before    public   employment   offices    can    accomplish   the   best 
f^'^'^;^k,  the  public  generally  will  have  to  be   educated  to  their 
fti         !e  and  value.     The  experience   of  Germany  and  England 
has  Siiiwn  how  real  is  the  need  for  a  cooperative  system  of  pub-  • 
lie  employment   offices  covering  the  entire   nation. 

Soon   this   country  will  have   to-  face  the   discussion    of  the 
/^  (establishment  of  unemployment  insurance  as  has  been  so  clearly 

7  "        2 


shown  by  Professor  Seager.  !  Such  insurance  does  not  now  seem 
farther  off  than  did  workmen's  compensation  ten  years  ago. 
No  system  of  unemployment  insurance  is  possible  without  a  fully 
established  system  of  public  employment  offices.^ 

We  have  at  present  no  organization  of  the  labor  market, 
and  very  little  is  known  about  it.  In  times  of  industrial  de- 
pression all  sorts  of  wild  guesses  are  made  as  to  the  number 
of  unemployed  in  the  large  cities,  and  there  is  generally  a  de- 
mand for  a  census  of  the  unemployed.  This  it  has  always  been 
found  impossible  to  take  accurately,  and  in  the  end  each  com- 
munity falls  back  upon  an  estimate  and  hesitates  about  what 
shall  b^  done  to  relieve  the  unemployment,  because  of  the  lack 
of  accurate  information  as  to  the  extent  and  character  of  it. 
We  are  now  conceiving  the  possibility,  through  an  extensive  and 
accurate  system  of  registration,  of  knowing  the  approximate  num- 
ber out  of  work,  according  to  their  industry  and  trade. 

One  of  the  means  suggested  by  those  interested  in  public 
affairs  to  relieve  unemployment  is  the  regularization  of  industry. 
In  too  many  industries  there  are  a  few^  feverish  months  of  rush, 
followed  by  a  corresponding  period  of  slackness  or  entire  cessa- 
tion. Through  the  study  of  industry  w^hich  the  public  employ- 
ment offices  will  have  to  make  while  carrying  on  their  daily 
work  information  will  be  gathered  of  great  value  to  those  who 
seek  to  regularize  industry  and  to  minimize  the  amount  of  sea- 
sonal and  cyclical  work. 

When  one  comes  to  know  the  importance  of  the  work  of 
public  employment  offices  there  follow^s  a  realization  of  how 
much  is  required  of  the  workers  in  these  offices,  and  of  the 
ability  and  training  necessary.  The  man  who  acts  as  superin- 
tendent of  any  public. employment  office  should  have  demanded 
of  him  just  as  high  qualifications  as  to  character,  ability  and  in- 
telligence as  are  required  of  those  who  teach  in  our  high  schools 
and  colleges,  and  his  assistants  should  measure  up  to  the  same 
standard. 

In  this  connection  we  wish  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  word  free  should  be  eliminated  from  all  reference  to  public 
employment  offices.  It  is  true  their  services  are  free,  and  so 
also  are  the  services  of  the  public  school.  We  have,  however, 
long  since  outgrown  the  use  of  the  term,  free,  in  conr  ^o^iV^ 
with  the  public  schools.  Why  should  we  still  retain  i 
ferring  to  the  public  employment  offices,  and  thus  in  an  .direct 
way  give  them  the  odium  of  charity?  The  popular  misconcep- 
tion of  public  employment  offices  is  nowhere  better  shown  than 
here.     No  parent   at  this  day   thinks  of  charity  when  he  sends 

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his  child  to  the  public  school,  but  he  would  not  patronize  a  free 
public  employment  bureau,  except  as   a  last  resort. 

Too  much  must  not  be  expected  from  newly  established  em- 
ployment oliices.  They  are  as  yet  in  the  "little  red  school 
house"  period  of  their  existence.  It  must  be  remembered,  too, 
that  the  work  in  an  employment  oliice  is  .of  a  hightiy  technical 
character,  and  that  there  are  at  present  very  few  trained  work- 
ers in  this  field.  One  of  the  benefits  of  the  present  olfices  will 
be  the  training  of  a  set  of  workers  who  eventually  will  be 
capable  of  dealing  adequately  with  the  question  of  unemploy- 
ment— workers  who  come  in  contact  with  the  needs  of  industry 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  needs  of  applicants  for  positions  on 
the  other.  It  is  not  every  man,  even  though  he  may  be  well 
trained  in  other  lines,  who  can  get  from  an  employer  the  full 
description  of  the  kind  of  worker  wanted,  and  who  can  take 
that  order  in  hand  and  select  from  the  individuals  in  the  line 
in  front  of  him  the  one  who  is  best  fitted  to  fill  all  the  de- 
mands of  that  position.  It  takes,  too,  a  very  tactful  person  to 
question  the  sometimes  reluctant  applicant  for  work  and  get 
from  him  all  the  information  about  himself  necessary  to  know 
before  be  can  be  fitted  into  the  position.  Then,  further,  the 
present  public  employment  offices  have  quite  a  task  before  them 
in  establishing  themselves  in  the  confidence  of  large  employers 
of  labor,  and  especially  employers  of  skilled  workers.  So  gen- 
eral is  the  belief  that  public  employment  offices  only  handle  the 
poorer  grades  of  labor,  that  most  employers  refuse  to  seek  their 
aid.  This  feeling,  of  course,  brings  about  a  disinclination  on 
the  part  of  efficient  workers  to  patronize  these  offices. 

The  public  bureaus  of  employment  should  cater  to  the  needs 
of  every  industry  and  every  class  of  workers,  from  the  pro- 
fessional man  to  the  man  who  uses  a  pick  and  shovel.  There 
is  probably  only  one  class  of  workers  which  the  public  em- 
ployment bureaus  are  not  at  present  fitted  to  cope  with,  and 
that  is  the  class  of  unemployable  or  near  unemployable.  In  every 
large  community  there  is  a  class  of  men — and  I  take  it  the 
delegates  to  this  conference  know  them  only  too  well — who 
cannot  be  induced  to  hold  a  job  at  any  one  time  for  more  v<;an 
a  few  days.  After  a  period,  anywhere  from  three  days  to^nj-ee 
weeks,  something  causes  the  man  of  this  class  to  quit — >  i.ier 
drink,  dissatisfaction,  or  inability  to  do  his  work.  T'lis  is  the 
class  that  charitable  organizations  are  endeavoring  constantly 
to  ''reclaim."  The  different  agencies  go  the  weary  round  of 
attempting  to  keep  them  at  work.  It  is  a  never-ending  labor  of 
finding  them  new  jobs.  It  is  the  state's  duty  tenderly,  yet  firmly, 
ik)  take  charge  of  these  people   and,  through  farm   colonies,   or 


y 


by  other  agencies  through  which  the  state's  authority  can  be 
wielded,  gradually  to  reclaim  and  cure  them,  by  a  long  course 
of  scientific  and  intelligent  treatment.  At  present  this  work  is 
left  to  private  charity,  which  is  without  authority,  and  it  at- 
tempts to  do  the  work  of  reclaiming  the  men  of  this  class  through 
the  regular  channels  of  industry.  It  cannot  be  done.  But  as 
the  state  will  not  do  it,  the  reclaiming  of  these  people  will  have 
to  be  left  to  the  only  agency  which  now  attempts  to  deal  with 
it — private  charity.  It  is  not  the  function  of  the  public  employ- 
ment bureau  to  handle  these  men,  and  if  it  attempted  to  cope 
with  them,  it  would  be  dragged  down.  The  public  employment 
bureau  has  to  overcome  too  many  misconceptions  and  adverse 
opinions  to  take  this  work  on  its  shoulders  at  the  present  time. 
What  this  class  of  people  can  do  for  the  public  employment 
offices  is  only  too  well  shown  in  many  of  the  branch  offices  in 
western  states.  These  have  become  veritable  hang-outs  for  the 
near-unemployable.  Decent  workmen  will  not  come  to  the 
bureaus,  because  they  do  not  wish  to  be  classed  with  the  peo- 
ple seen  and  handled  there.  Employers,  on  the  other  hand,  may 
give  the  public  office  an  order,  but  it  has  to  be  filled  from  such 
inferior  workmen  that  they  never  repeat  the  order;  and,  finally, 
the  office  degenerates  into  handling  men  who  beat  carpets,  do 
odd  jobs,  or  who  are  willing  to  work  for  starvation  wages.  It 
can  be  conceived  that  at  some  time  when  public  employment 
offices  have  come  into  their  true  estate,  then  they  mav  have 
a  separate  department  for  handling  this  class,  doing  what  they 
can  to  keep  them  at  work,  or  otherwise  intelligently  disposing  of 
them. 

But  even  at  the  present  time  public  employment  offices  can 
do  better  for  private  charity  than  attempt  to  handle  the  un- 
employable. They  can  commence  right  now  to  check  the  ever 
increasing  flood  of  this  class  in  two  or  three  very  definite  ways. 

In  the  first  place,  they  can  give  practical  suggestion  and  f^ 
direction  to  young  people  who  are  ready  to  enter  industry. 
Many  thousands  of  dollars  are  spent  in  educating  the  children 
of  the  different  communities.  After  receiving  this  education, 
th  are  turned  out  of  the  schools  at  any  time  from  the  four- 
ti  h  to  the  twentieth  year,  and  allowed  to  hunt  their  vocation 
in' life  with  very  little  well  defined  or  intelligent  direction.  The 
child  mily  turn  to  its  parent,  who  has  very  limited  knowledge 
as  to  the  industries  of  his  community  or  the  country  at  large. 
If  the  child  turns  to  its  teacher,  it  finds  but  little  more  help 
here,  and  so  in  a  haphazard  fashion  it  secures  a  "job."  There 
should  be  in  every  community  a  central  point  to  which  the 
child  could  turn  to  learn   all  about  industries,   all   about   oppor- 


tunities  in  staple  trades  and  new  lines  of  business,  to  know 
which  were  decaying  trades,  which  were  "blind-alley"  trades, 
and  what  vocation  was  best  fitted  to  its  education  and  tempera- 
ment. To  thus  save  the  child  from  misdirection  would  cut  off 
one  source  of  supply  to  the  great  stream  of  casual  workers  and 
unemployables. 

Public  employment  offices  should  also  be  able,  in  connec- 
tion with  trade  unions,  to  give  accurate  information  to  voca- 
tional and  trade  schools  as  to  what  should  be  taught  in  them 
to  meet  the  coming  needs  of  the  various  industries. 

Another  way  in  which  the  public  employment  offices  could 
help  to  lessen  the  number  of  casuals  and  unemployables  would 
be  to  help  to  shift  workers  in  seasonal  industries  from  one  work 
to  another.  Many  trades  and  industries  can  be,  or  are,  carried 
on  for  part  of  the  year  only,  and  when  the  workers  leave  one 
trade  they  have  no  central  point  where  information  can  be  had 
concerning  some  other  trade  in  which  they  could  be  employed 
for  the  rest  of  the  year.  Lacking  this,  they  drift  about  and 
soon  become  members  of  the  great  body  of  under-employed. 

The  casual  workers,  as  well  as  the  unemployable,  are  also  re- 
cruited from  the  ranks  of  those  who  have  vainly  striven  to  find 
work  in  their  own  particular  trade.  Barring  the  drug  habit, 
there  is  probably  no  other  thing  so  depressing  to  a  man  as  the 
weary  hunt  for  a  job,  the  being  turned  away  day  after  day  from 
factory  gates  and  offices.  After  a  few  weeks  of  this  sort  of 
thing,  men  who,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  would  be  good 
and  steady  workmen,  get  into  such  a  depressed  state  that  at 
last,  when  work  is  found,  they  have  become  unfitted  to  do  it. 
Our  bread  lines  contain  many  men  who  have  gone  down  under 
this  sort  of  depressing  search. 

A  man  seeking  work  today  finds  that  he  has  to  go  through 
many  avenues  to  obtain  it.  The  most  common  way  is  to  apply 
at  the  actual  place  of  the  work.  This  means  tramping  the 
streets  of  the  city  or  riding  to  many  parts  of  the  community 
where  work  is  going  on.  Or  the  man  may  answer  an  ad  in  the 
newspaper  and  find  himself  in  line  with  many  hundreds  of 
other  applicants.  Or  he  may  insert  an  ad  in  some  newspaper 
and  go  the  weary  round  in  answer  to  the  replies.  If  he  is  a 
union  man,  he  can  apply  to  the  headquarters  or  to  the  busi- 
ness agent  of  his  union.  If  he  is  a  non-union  man,  or  is  not 
opposed  to  working  in  an  open  shop,  he  can  apply  to  the  em- 
ployment bureau  of  an  employers'  association.  If  he  has  a 
family  to  support,  and  has  reached  the  point  of  asking  charity, 
he  may  be  referred  to  the  employment  office  of  some  charitable 


iissociation.  If  he  has  a  lillle  money,  he  can  go  to  a  private 
employment  agency.  Here  he  may  be  charged  a  registration  fee, 
and  if,  after  some  delay,  he  is  finally  placed  in  a  position,  he 
will  be  made  to  pay  anywhere  from  five  to  twenty  per  cent  of 
his  first  month's  earnings. 

So  many  varied  ways  cause  a  scattering  of  energies  and  a  loss 
of  time  and  money,  not  only  to  the  employe  and  employer,  but 
to  society  as  a  whole.  The  method  is  as  primitive  as  the  ox- 
team,   and  the  inefficiency  and   waste   are   very  great. 

To  sum  up,  then,  while  public  employment  offices  do  not  and 
cannot  create  jobs,  they  will  minimize  the  number  fruitlessly 
searching  for  work,  and  more  quickly  bring  employer  and  em- 
ploye together.  They  will  take  the  place  of  the  private  em- 
ployment agencies,  which  so  often  exploit  the  workers.  They 
will  give  intelligent  direction  to  young  people  who  are  just 
starting  into  their  life  work.  They  will  point  out  w^ays  for  the 
regularization  of  industry  and  help  to  shift  seasonal  workers 
from  one  trade  to  another.  In  the  daily  carrying  on  of  all  this 
kind  of  work,  the  office  will  be  compelled  to  collect,  through  its 
records  and  otherwise,  a  vast  amount  of  information  which  will 
be  available  at  all  times  for  public  use,  information  which,  at 
the  present  time,  is  brought  out  only  through  the  work  of 
temporary  commissions  which  attempt  hastily  to  bring  together 
facts  which  should  be  collected  solely  by  trained  workers  who 
are  daily  dealing  with  all  phases  of  industry. 


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